And Now I Fight Alone
by Grand Phoenix
Summary: "This will not be a war. What I intend to do will not constitute as such." [Sequel to But Now I Walk Alone]


It's been seven years since we last met, Natsu, but I have heard much about your exploits. Your victory in the Grand Magic Games. Your triumph over the dragons that managed to cross time and space as the Eclipse Gate was closed shut by the Celestial magi. The dissolution of the future Rogue Cheney as a result of the Gate's destruction by your hand.

You've gotten stronger.

_Much_ stronger.

But…is it enough?

After being in stasis for so long, will it be enough to destroy me and lay to rest the evil that continues to cast his shadow over the world, consuming the light of dawn in his wake?

I wonder.

Lately, I've been wondering about a lot of things.

I tilt my head back and take it all in. The stark blue of the sky, deepening as the sun makes its wayward zenith to the horizon. The bright green of the trees, its leaves picked up by an errant breeze and whispering in tongues I can only fathom to understand. The faint twittering of an unseen bird, singing its high, gay melody.

It is peaceful here. Quiet. A moment of clarity frozen in time.

So beautiful. So very beautiful.

It hurts just thinking about it.

At my shoulder, Obra snickers and grinds his teeth. His little paws knead into the fabric of my shirt. I don't expect him to understand.

Suddenly, there is pressure. In the back of my mind, it resonates and tingles like a tuning fork. I level my gaze past the forest, beyond it, beyond the boundaries of Fiore and the seas where the dread Black Dragon soars. I needn't look behind me, and it makes me break out in a slight smile.

"I can neither see nor hear you…but I know you are there, Mavis." I stare down at my hands, calloused fingers – fingers having been stained in the blood of billions – splayed across thin blades of grass. So tiny, so infinitesimal. "Seven years ago, you and I were close." How time flies. I almost didn't realize seven years had passed until I heard tell the core members of Fairy Tail had returned to Magnolia.

To protect your family as they stared up into the face of the Apocalypse…I had thought them gone. Lost and restless, spirits forever condemned to roam the earth, never knowing solace, never knowing the calm, dreamless sleep of eternity. And here they are, alive and well.

You never cease to amaze me, Mavis. Your honor knows no bounds, and it is a trait I find most admirable.

Which brings to bear a thought, one that has been skirting the edges of my dreams since Tenrou Island was put to sleep in the embrace of the Fairy Sphere. It is a wild place, pockmarked with ruins and overrun with vegetation…but it is holy land, the final stepping stone of a Fairy's journey before he succumbs to death's siren call and gives his flesh unto the earth. It is there, beneath Sirius's shining, watchful eye, he or she will experience eternal paradise.

It is a fitting resting place, don't you think, Mavis? Were I a Fairy, I would be inclined to agree.

But alas, that is not who I am.

"I have already decided on where I am going to die. I've lived for many centuries and watched the rise and fall of different ages and different civilizations. People hate, and it is their hate, their anger, their doubts and despairs, which causes conflict, but I'm looking forward to a new age that will end all of that."

I sigh. "How many times must this happen…where humanity makes the same mistakes over and over again? In a way, it's not really living. How can it be, when to live means to die an early death, one that could easily be avoided? Why must the fathers and mothers of children die well before their time?" That is not how mankind should eke out his existence. That is not how they should leave their mark on the world, foisting their sins and burdens onto a generation eager to follow in their footsteps and honor their legacy.

There's nothing to be gained living like that…but, "I'm no longer the existence you can love…known as man." No, living like so – primitively, senselessly, mercilessly – makes one out to be a monster. A real man would not hold himself in that regard, and I am not that kind of man.

No one, man or woman or child, should walk down the path of darkness, and there is far too much of it in this world.

That path alone belongs to one such person and no other.

"After mulling it over for seven years, I've come to a conclusion." I rise to my feet, prompting Obra to hop off my shoulder and land noiselessly on the ground. He twists his body around, cat-like, blank white eyes staring most curiously up at me.

"If the world continues to reject me, then I shall reject the world." I start walking. Leaves crunch and crackle beneath the heavy tread of my boots. The wind sighs and runs its feather-light fingers through my hair. "This will be a gift from me, restoring the world and allowing it to be born anew." It will be as new as the green of the trees, as bright as the blue of the sky, as calm and serene as the breeze. The history of this wide, fertile earth – worn, weather-beaten, and caked in layers of blood, sweat, and tears – will be cast aside, and a new slate – blank and white as Obra's eyes – will be forged anew.

I can see it now: a world without war; a world without hate; a world where evil ceases to be and the earth basks in the eternal, golden light of the sun.

It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it, Mavis?

Ah, but such a crusade will surely have every mage and wizard come down on my head, won't it? Any action I make - be it big or small - will most assuredly force the guilds and the Magic Council to declare war and unite into a single, solidified alliance. An Army of Light unlike any the world has ever seen.

There will be chaos, an untold amount of wanton bloodshed, and that is something I cannot have….

"No," this will not be a war. What I intend to do will not constitute as such. "This will be a one-sided massacre, and not a single soul shall be spared my wrath."

…However, if it means restoring the world to its former glory, if it means I must drown the earth in the blood of innocents well beyond her given tithe, if I must become a monster to destroy the very monsters that desecrate this beautiful, sacred land, then a monster I shall become. I must.

So it shall be.

* * *

The hour of our fated battle is close at hand, Natsu Dragneel.

You've gotten stronger since last we met, but I can't help but wonder: Will it be enough to strike me down?


End file.
